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Nice cruise, but not the best.

Sail Date:
October 2013

Destination:
Bermuda

Embarkation:
Boston

First of all, despite the problems, my wife and I enjoyed the cruise immensely. The ship, while smaller than any we had previously travelled on (Royal Caribbean and Princess), was nicely laid out, and reasonably well maintained. We chose this cruise because of the price, and the fact that we are a short commute from Boston.

The crew was as friendly and pleasant as any I had encountered, but I got the impression that they were, for the most part, not well trained (we'll get into that later). The food in the complimentary dining rooms was fair, but unmemorable. The Garden Cafe (the buffet) had the exact same menu for breakfast every day. We didn't go there most days for lunch and dinner, but these too, seemed to have mostly the same items each day.

Another reason for choosing this cruise was the chance to see an island for a few days, instead of the brief visits most cruises offer. Instead of booking excursions on the ship, we chose to buy ferry/bus passes, and explore More
on our own. By comparing the ship prices with what we paid, we estimate that we saved about $200, and were able to meet a number of the locals (who were all very nice people). And while we were warned that October is the rainy month in Bermuda, we had mostly sunny skies and temperatures in the 80's, with only a couple of brief showers (much nicer than Florida).

Back on the ship, the entertainment was average, save for some extremely funny shows by members of the Second City comedy group, and a fairly good production called "Bollywood" (which despite the crew having a large number of Indians, none were in this cast). Other acts were not interesting to me, but Norwegian was nice enough to spring for an ESPN package to allow us to watch the Red Sox in the World Series.

As for the issues I mentioned earlier, our cabin attendant repeatedly forgot to provide stirrers and Splenda packets for our coffee, even after a few reminders.

On the second day, the English pub was badly stocked. I asked the poor waitress to recommend a tequila drink that wasn't a margarita or a tequila sunrise, and she didn't know of any, and wouldn't ask the bartender. The menu had a tequila drink with fruit and basil. I ordered that. The waitress returned a few minutes later saying they had no basil. I suggested that the ship might have a kitchen that could provide a bit of the herb. She said she couldn't do that. So I ordered a Coors Light and a shot of the featured tequila on the menu, Don Julio Anejo. Again the waitress returned. They were out of Coors Light (on the second day? - I found Coors Light in other bars that evening). I ordered a Corona Light. Then she said they were out of the Don Julio. I ordered Patron instead. When my drinks came, the Corona was topped with a LEMON! You guessed it. They were out of limes. The drinks manager seems to have fallen asleep on the job.

Other issues, the buffet restaurant frequently ran out of silverware, with no one keeping an eye on the tables. The daily newsletter always listed a featured shot served in their dining rooms in a souvenir glass, but no one ever offered them at dinner. And the dining room staff were completely clueless as to how to correctly use the little tool for cleaning crumbs off the table. The swept them to the side, and pushed them all on the floor, or on your lap if you were unlucky.

While the above issues were a nuisance, none were enough to curtail our enjoyment of our vacation, and most became a subject of amusement for us, and the friends we made on board. Less